The Green IT Review

Thursday, 4 March 2010

Deloitte has acquired UK carbon and sustainability consultancy firm dcarbon8. The company will be absorbed within Deloitte’s expanding environmental and sustainability consulting practice.

dcarbon8 provides carbon footprinting and management, supply chain carbon assessment, sustainability strategies and environmental communications strategies (for which read PR). It has the capability to deliver Carbon Trust and Planet Positive certification of products, businesses and buildings as part of its services. Deloitte particularly pointed to dcarbon8’s expertise in carbon footprint, water and sustainability advisory services as being complementary to its own.

Sustainability is an area that’s ripe for consultancy at all levels – from global strategy in the face of uncertain carbon legislation down to product lifecycle carbon assessment, so it’s no surprise that all the consultancy firms are building their businesses. If the financial climate had been better we would have seen a lot more of these small specialist firms snapped up in the last couple of years.

The economic climate also explains why IT services companies have not been on the acquisition trail of similar boutique firms. With IT playing a significant role in reducing emissions throughout corporations, I still expect to see such acquisitions in the next year or two as part of their green IT push.